Thanks Endless. A kick and a flick for being so quick.
Half-time round-up:
The share market erased two days of gains before paring falls after rival reports painted a mixed picture of Chinese factory activity last month.
At lunchtime the ASX 200 was trading 22 points or 0.4% lower at 5372 as the big miners led a partial recovery. The index had earlier dropped as low as 5350, weighed down by declines in gold stocks -3.7%, energy -1% and financials -0.4%.
The official Chinese manufacturing gauge, released at noon, ticked up one basis point to 50.3 last month from 50.2 in February. Economists had expected the index to decline to 50.1, according to Forex Factory. However, the final version of a rival report released by HSBC at 12.45pm showed the contraction last month was worse than the preliminary reading. The final March figure was 48, down from a flash reading of 48.5
Back home, a separate report showed Australian manufacturing activity declined in March for a fifth straight month. The AIG Performance of Manufacturing Index dropped 0.7 points to 47.9.
"The latest Australian PMI shows that large parts of the economy are failing to gain traction in 2014," AiG chief executive Innes Willox told Fairfax. "Subdued local demand and the newly resurgent dollar are weighing heavily against the efforts of manufacturers to rebuild their sales base in Australia and internationally."
Asian markets were mixed. China's Shanghai Composite eased 0.08%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng rallied 0.67% and Japan's Nikkei dipped 0.04%. Dow futures were recently up nine points or less than 0.1%.
Crude oil futures dropped 10 cents this morning to US$101.38 a barrel. Spot gold was 60 cents softer at US$1,283.80 an ounce. The dollar was buying 92.73 US cents.
What a morning. There was enough action today for a week's worth of day trades. I could get away with mistiming a few and still look forward to a decent payday as the PBT disappointment sent jitters through the sector. Big win in ANP after buying pre-announcement. Smaller wins in PBT and TLG. Nursing a paper loss in MOY, break-even/narrowly ahead in TEN and SXL. IBY and IPP still basing - no sell signals yet. Missed LMB - just too many this morning to trade 'em all. Side-note: don't let Cgull see today's Herald website - Miranda Kerr talks about her sex life. The mods will have to close down this thread if he gets wind of it...
